A number of world-renowned artists are heading to Tauranga Art Gallery for its 2019 signature show, Mega World.

The show promises to transport viewers to an unknown landscape populated by strange creatures and unlikely heroes.

It will be shown across all five exhibition spaces and will give life to contemporary illustration in its many forms, from comics and graphic novels to animation and contemporary art.

A Mega World highlight will be US artist Gary Baseman, whose portfolio includes illustrations for numerous publications from the New York Times, Rolling Stone and the Wall Street Journal, to artists' books, toy design and collaborations with fashion designers.

He is the artistic designer for best-selling board game Cranium, and the creator of the Emmy award-winning ABC/Disney cartoon series Teacher's Pet. Baseman will be exhibiting his Imaginary Friends at Tauranga Art Gallery from March 30 - his first public gallery exhibition in Australasia.

The gallery will also welcome up-and-coming Chinese artist Sun Xun and his 3D animation Time Spy. Previously shown in New York's Times Square, Time Spy has been meticulously created using more than 10,000 hand-carved woodcuts. Sun Xun blends this ancient analogue process with digital animation, bringing to life a surreal narrative watched with 3D glasses.

Mega World will also include the Australasian premiere of Dash Shaw's animated film My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, as part of the group exhibition Anti-Heroes. The animation comes hot from the Toronto Film Festival. Rolling Stone named it as one of the top films to see at the festival, and it has an 84 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Mega World runs from February 24-July 7 at Tauranga Art Gallery. For more information visit: www.artgallery.org.nz